YAB Makes Connections With Safer Cities

Last night YAB attended the opening reception hosted by Italy, the host of the next World Urban Forum. Amid the samosas and glasses of beer, we were able to meet a variety of people doing interesting work with UN-Habitat.

Opening Night Reception

While meeting and greeting we were fortunate to come across a group of youth partners from around the world working with the UN-Habitat Safer Cities Programme.

Safer Cities Programme was launched in 1996. The initial focus was on Africa, at the request of African mayors who were concerned by the extent of violence in their cities and wanted help with the development of prevention strategies at city level. Due to initial success, the programme has since been extended to Latin America and Asia.

Safer Cities works with youth partners from around the world, involving them in the dialogue on how to create safer and more inclusive cities.

Gavin Sheppard is one of those partners. Gavin runs The Remix Project in Toronto, Canada, which was created in order to help level the playing field for young people from disadvantaged, marginalized and under served communities. Through their programs and services The Remix Project serves youth who are trying to enter into the creative industries or further their formal education.

Inspired by Gavin and some of his colleagues, YAB looks forward to collaborating across UN-Habitat with more youth projects around the world!